


All the Wrong Literary References

by ropememory



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Community: inception_kink, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-30
Updated: 2011-08-30
Packaged: 2017-10-23 06:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/247189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ropememory/pseuds/ropememory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for <a href="http://inception-kink.livejournal.com/15916.html?thread=33734700">this prompt</a> on inception_kink</p>
    </blockquote>





	All the Wrong Literary References

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this prompt](http://inception-kink.livejournal.com/15916.html?thread=33734700) on inception_kink

Eames was invisible. Not on purpose, mind you. But, well, it turns out that Yusuf might have miscalculated things a bit. Eames was also naked. That was on purpose, though, because while he may have turned invisible, his clothes didn’t, and it had apparently been a bit too weird to see clothes moving around without a body to accompany them.

“Ray Bradbury would be proud,” Cobb said.

Eames frowned at him. Not that anyone could see it, though. “That was the _illustrated_ man.”

“What about... uh... whoever wrote _The Giver_?” Cobb asked.

Eames facepalmed.

Arthur jumped, a little. “Christ, Eames, you can’t do that.”

“For one, everything was black and white in _The Giver,_ which was written by Lois Lowry. For two, a facepalm sounds nothing like a gunshot, Arthur,” Eames said.

Arthur frowned. “But it was loud. And came out of nowhere.”

Eames sighed. This was Definitely Not Fun.

“It’s just... we were expecting Edward Cullen and we got... well...” Ariadne waved her hand in the general direction she thought Eames was in.

“This is the most depressing conversation I’ve ever been a part of, and that’s _including_ the one where Arthur refused to let me eat ice cream off his naked body,” Eames said, mournfully.

Arthur blushed when everyone else turned to look at him. “It would have been cold.”

“Shouldn’t you be off making mischief, anyway, Eames?” Ariadne asked.

“Alright, Sue Richards, try this one,” Yusuf suddenly said, emerging from his lab holding a beaker containing a blue-ish liquid.

“Oh Reed, you shouldn’t have,” Eames replied, batting his eyelashes. Which no one could see, so the effect was lost, really, but it made Eames feel better.

The blue-ish liquid, however, did nothing but make Eames cough when he swallowed it down the wrong way.

Yusuf frowned, before taking the beaker and heading back towards the lab.

“Maybe it’s a slow reaction?” Arthur suggested.

“I think Arthur’s Edward Cullen, Ari’s Alice and I’m Jasper,” Cobb said randomly, scrolling through something on his phone. “And Yusuf’s Jacob.”

Ariadne moved to peer over his shoulder. “Are you wikipedia-ing the _Twilight_ cast just to figure out who we’d all be?”

“I wanted to know what you were referencing,” Cobb replied.

Eames head-desked that time, causing Arthur to jump again.

Arthur frowned and rolled his chair over to Cobb and Ariadne. “Eames, I’m ignoring you because you insist on making startlingly loud noises. And I don’t _want_ to be Edward Cullen.”

Eames sighed and walked out of the warehouse through the back door.

\--

The problem, Eames soon found out, was that his hotel room key was in his wallet, which was in his pants, which were in the warehouse. That, and it’s really hard to not touch other people while invisible. So, he went to a park and laid down in the grass to take a nap, because there wasn’t much else he could do.

\--

“Okay, Eames, try this one,” Yusuf said, coming out from the lab again.

The other three looked up at Yusuf, and then at each other and finally around the warehouse when there was no response.

“Eames?” Yusuf asked. When there was still no response, he frowned.

“This isn’t funny, Eames,” Arthur said.

“Maybe he’s asleep,” Ariadne suggested.

Arthur threw a pen at Eames’ desk. The pen just hit the chair and skittered to the floor.

“I don’t think he’s here,” Cobb finally said, once the pen had stopped moving.

“How are we going to find him?” Arthur asked, frowning.

“He’s got to come back eventually, right? So... we leave a note,” Ariadne said.

Cobb and Yusuf nodded in agreement, and Ariadne went up to the whiteboard to scrawl a note to Eames.

Arthur pretended he wasn’t worried.

\--

Eventually, Eames woke up. And he woke up _hungry._ Unfortunately, he was still invisible, so ordering food wasn’t an option.

“This would be more fun if my life was a movie, I think,” Eames told the setting sun, before standing up and heading back to the warehouse.

He did end up stealing someone else’s food on the way, though (the screams and general panic that he left behind made up for the lousiness of the situation a little bit).

\--

“I think we should call it a night,” Cobb said, looking at his watch.

Ariadne started collecting her stuff, and Yusuf began shutting off various instruments in his lab. The three of them were at the door before noticing Arthur hadn’t moved from his desk.

“Aren’t you coming with us?” Ariadne asked.

Arthur shook his head. “I’ve still got some more research to do, and if we can’t fix this whole invisible thing in time, then I need to find someone to replace Eames.”

“Alright,” Ariadne shrugged, before heading out the door.

“Night, Arthur,” Cobb said, then followed Ariadne out.

Yusuf just nodded before leaving.

\--

Eames slipped into the warehouse just after Yusuf had walked out. He wandered around for a bit, partially to observe Arthur, and partially because, well, he didn’t much feel like sitting. It wasn’t until he went to sit down that he noticed the note on the whiteboard for him.

“Huh,” Eames said, and Arthur nearly fell out of his chair. Eames glanced over at him. “Sorry about that. Guess I should have announced my presence.”

Arthur nodded. “Would have been nice.” Then, after a few moments of silence, “Where have you been?”

By then, Eames had moved over to Yusuf’s lab where the new potential cure was. “The park. Took a nap. Then I stole some food. So, that was fun.” Locating the beaker, he took a sip.

Arthur had gotten up from his desk and headed over to Eames’ discarded clothes.

Eames glanced down at the rest of his body. “You’ll have to let me know if this works, since I’ve been able to see myself all day.”

“I’d say it worked,” Arthur replied, handing Eames his pants.

Eames grinned. “Fantastic. That was getting bloody obnoxious.”

Arthur gave him a small smile. “I’m sure. Another day and I would have had to find someone else to do your job.”

\--

The next day, there was a copy of H.G. Wells’ _The Invisible Man_ with a bow around it on Cobb’s desk. He threw it at Eames’ head when Eames finally walked in.


End file.
